Fraser wears 'Icebox of the Nation' like a badge

Sitting in a valley at the foot of two mountain ranges, Fraser has a habit that other towns might hide and this one celebrates: it gets cold. Really cold. On clear winter nights, heavy air slides down off the peaks and pools on the valley floor, and the thermometer drops further than just about anywhere else in the country. On the night of January 20-21, 2025, a gauge near Fraser read 44 below zero, the lowest reading in the lower 48 that morning, beating out the usual contenders in northern Minnesota.

Fraser has leaned into this for a long time. Town officials say it has called itself the “Icebox of the Nation” since the 1950s, which kicked off a friendly, decades-long tug-of-war with International Falls, Minnesota over who gets to use the name. International Falls eventually secured the federal trademark, but that hasn’t cooled Fraser’s affection for the title. The town newsletter is still called “IceBox News.”

It is worth knowing what you are signing up for: Fraser Valley winters are long, and a sub-zero morning is nothing unusual here. But residents tend to talk about it the way coastal folks talk about fog. It is part of the place, and there is something to be said for a town that knows exactly what it is. For the latest cold-snap rankings, NPR’s feature on the “Ice Box of the Nation” rivalry is a fun place to start.